Wednesday, April 18, 2012

It can seem like yesterday to those of us who have reached the dubious joys of middle age, but it was 32 years ago today that the nation of Rhodesia ceased to exist, and the new nation of Zimbabwe was born in its place.

Three decades of rule by the ZANU-PF party under dictator Robert Mugabe have not been kind to the peoples of Zimbabwe. Political repression, (such a cute euphemism for breaking heads and shooting people), by the ZANU-PF, Blood Diamonds at Marenge dug from the ground by slave labor, multiple epidemics caused by contamination of municipal water supplies, soaring inflation so bad that the Zim dollar was finally retired (the US dollar is now used in Zimbabwe), and "accidental" deaths of opposition politicians and their families, all these things and more have been brought to you by Smilin' Bob Mugabe, the people's friend.